


Round and Round

by DryCereal



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Bus-based fic, Fluff, M/M, Tour Fic, Tour fest 2, fuck icloud, interactive introverts, shorter than it should be
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-15
Updated: 2018-09-15
Packaged: 2019-07-12 14:58:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15997610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DryCereal/pseuds/DryCereal
Summary: Two slices of bus-life.





	Round and Round

The drone of the engine of the bus is soothing this late at night, a constant hum that rarely changes in pitch or volume.  
It's just background noise, like their breathing as they relax together, everyone else except Marianne, as ever buried in her laptop, and the driver having already retreated to their bunks for the night.

Dan's got his head resting in Phil's lap, the rest of him stretched along the sofa they claimed even before the bus had started moving, his attention focused on his phone, scrolling alternately through tumblr and Twitter, checking on the keysmashes, actual legible posts, gifs, and pictures from both the meet and greet and the show, all evidence of yet another venue full of predominantly excited, happy fans. And some confused parents, which always makes him grin.

He looks up, eager to show Phil something he too will no doubt giggle over, to find him all but asleep, chin on his chest, with glasses in danger of sliding off the end of his nose, but he startles as Dan attempts to sit up without disturbing him, before groaning tiredly and curling into Dan’s side, resting his head on his shoulder.

“M’tired” he murmurs, making Dan smile at the whine not quite hidden in his voice, as he presses his lips against Phil’s hair, before giving him a gentle nudge with his shoulder. Phil almost defiantly presses closer, in what would be a brief hug, if he wasn’t too sleepy to actually wind his arms around Dan, before pulling away and standing up unsteadily.

“I’m... bed” he mumbles, which causes Marianne to look up with a smile, which changes to an amused shake of the head and a chuckle when Phil sleepily responds only to Dan’s wishes of goodnight before stumbling towards his bunk, and from there to the bathroom. She closes her laptop with a click before sliding it into her bag and stretching, before she too stands up and stretches.

“Think I’ll turn in too,” she says, fighting back a yawn. “You staying up for a bit longer?” Dan nods and smiles in response, still too keyed up from tonight’s show, and observing the reaction to it to try and sleep.

“Think so. Not for long, but I’m not sleepy yet.” She smiles and nods in response, before heading down the length of the bus, just as Phil emerges from the bathroom, lurches to his bunk and collapses into it, barely attempting to close the curtain behind him.

They both giggle at the sight, and as she turns and catches his eye, Dan feels a little stab of guilt hit him. It’s not really fair how he gets to spend every day with part of his family and his partner, whilst Marianne has left all hers behind for months on end, no doubt making her own life more complicated and trying to keep it going from a long distance, just so she can smooth theirs out and handle the complicated stuff from close by. That doesn’t even include dealing with their audience. True, she doesn’t have any two-way contact with them online, but Dan knows she spends just as long keeping tabs on what’s being said or speculated about as they themselves do, and he knows just how difficult it can be to keep quiet when things are being said that are unfair or just plain wrong.

He disembarks from his train of thought as she stops and turns back towards him, consciously clearing his expression as they make eye contact.

“Warm drink?” she offers, having paused by the kitchenette, before picking up two mugs at Dan’s affirmative response. She brings the drinks over once they’re done, and hands Dan his before sitting down opposite him once more, gracefully curling her legs under her long skirt and wrapping both hands tightly round her mug, holding it to her chest.

They sit in companionable silence, sipping their hot chocolate, until Marianne finishes hers, whereupon she stands, and makes as if to pick Dan’s mug up too, until she notices it’s still half-full.

“I’m off to bed” she says, as she rinses her mug and hangs it up over the sink with the others. “Try and get some sleep - busy day tomorrow etcetera blah blah” she says, winking.

“Yes Mum” he jokingly answers, then dodges exaggeratedly at the playful swat she aims at his head, along with a retort about how she isn’t _quite_ that old -

“Speaking of Mums though - before I forget, Kath emailed me today - can you get Phil to phone home tomorrow? She worries...”

“Will do” he promises, before wishing her goodnight as she climbs into her bunk.

He sits, contemplating both his mug and his phone, before picking up the latter, closing out of Twitter, and opening WhatsApp.

 _Hi Kath, how’s island life?_ He sends, before taking another sip of his drink as he waits to see if he’ll get a response.

 _Hi tall one!_ She answers after a minute or two, continuing - _I saw some of the nieces the other week, they were just referring to everything by its size, so... did I get it right?_

He smiles softly, grateful as ever that she tries so hard to keep up with the online side of their lives, even if she doesn’t get it quite right most of the time. That said, neither does her son, but at least Kath doesn’t do it intentionally just to wind him up.

 _Yaaaaaas queen!!!_ He answers, chuckling, hoping that she’ll appreciate the ironic response, even if she doesn’t get the reference. Judging by the smiling emoji he receives in response, she likes it.

 _Hope you’re not having trouble sleeping - isn’t it late where you are?_ She sends almost immediately. It’s the sort of question that would have ended the conversation not that long ago, but he’s been working hard on letting more people that are close to him, to **them** in, being more open with how he’s doing, a target made easier because it does, he’s found, actually help.

 _I’m okay_ he responds, honestly. _I’m just not sleepy yet, but everyone else has gone to bed, so I thought I’d see how things are at home._

 _Oh, same old, same old_ , she answers. _But we can’t all be off travelling the world having adventures, too old for that!_

He’s about to respond, tell her not to be silly and that they’re welcome to fly out and meet up for a few days at any time, is thinking when they’ve got a few days off, or at least, without travelling, when the next message causes his phone to buzz in his hand.

_Have you tried having a hot drink? NO CAFFEINE!_

In response, he sends a picture of his drained mug. And chuckles quietly when her response is _I always knew you were the sensible one._

They continue trading messages for a while, him gradually feeling increasingly relaxed, and doesn’t he always when he’s with the Lesters? Yet again he feels incredibly lucky that Phil’s parents have always been so welcoming, so accepting, caring and generous, even from the get-go with his painfully awkward, terrified 18-year old self. They’ve always been there for both Phil and himself, supporting them in any way they’ve needed, even when the only advice they’ve been able to give is “do what you think is right for both of you” and yet so unbelievably proud of their successes. Always.

Eventually, he’s actually starting to feel tired, so he tacks that onto the end of a message at the end of another topic of discussion. By the time he’s actually in bed Kath has sent a reply, wishing him sweet dreams, and asking him to pass on her _love to my other boys and my best girl_ which he promises to do before tucking his phone under his pillow.

True to his word, he catches Phil, Martyn and Cornelia unawares on FaceTime at lunch the following day, and he’s happy to have timed it right with dinner on the Isle of Man.

* * * * *

It’s not like he’s dreaming, not that he’s aware of anyway, but he’s certainly not ready to wake up, even as he becomes aware of Phil’s voice calling his name.  
“Not now” he thinks, determined to stay asleep, even if Phil’s getting louder, or closer, he doesn’t much care, as he clings desperately to the soft, floating feeling being torn away from him, he’s so tired still, it can’t be time to start a new day yet, just-

He’s fully awakened, abruptly, by Phil seizing his shoulder and shaking him roughly. He shoots up, narrowly avoiding smacking his head on the low ceiling of his bunk, and glares balefully at Phil, knocking his hand off his shoulder before grasping it as he tries to make sense of the world around him - why he’s been woken up so suddenly in the middle of the night, why the bus is still and quiet, why Marianne is stood at Phil’s shoulder, why they they’re both staring at him worriedly, why-

“There’s been a crash Dan, you need to get up, we need to get off the bus for a bit...”

Oh.

Oh _**shit**_.

He’s up and out of the bunk in a flash, luckily Phil is there to grab and steady him as he stumbles either sleepily or dizzily for a second, he can’t tell, but what he knows is that Phil is still staring at him with an intensity that isn’t exactly comfortable, even if it’s just them and a rapidly-disappearing Marianne present, until she exits the bus with a reminder that they both should “put on shoes - there could be glass or who knows what lying about.”

“Phil, what’s -“ he queries, before trailing off as Phil visibly gives himself a shake, obviously pulling himself out of whatever thoughts he’d been consumed by at his words, before pasting on a tight little smile that reaches nowhere near his eyes, and gesturing loosely towards the drawers under their bunks.

“Dan... let’s... just get some shoes on and let’s get off the bus.”

The scene outside is - well, Dan thinks, as he looks around, it’s a bit underwhelming, in all honesty. The car they’d obviously collided with (though he doesn’t know the causes, or who hit whom) has some crushed panels, a smashed headlight and it’s missing its wing mirror, but the damage to the corresponding side of their bus, well... it’s negligible. A bit of a dent in some of the vents, and a few scrapes.

He turns away from the bus and catches sight of their driver talking to two strangers, clearly the occupants of the car, Marianne hovering close by, presumably all exchanging information and insurance details. It seems as if everyone has escaped uninjured, for which he’s grateful, but as he turns to Phil to say something, he again catches him frowning, staring fixedly at him.

Instead of speaking, he grasps Phil’s arm in his, and draws him away from the group, further along the bus, before turning to him, finding eye contact and simply asking “OK, What?”

“Dan, it’s fine, just -“ Phil looks away from him, before rubbing at his eyes under his glasses and first leaning, then sliding down the side of the bus until he’s sat on the tarmac.

“No, don’t do that. Tell me what’s wrong. You’re starting to scare m-“

“Oh, **you’re** scared?!” Phil snaps back, before cutting himself off as suddenly as he’d lashed out, frowning and immediately apologising. “Sorry love, it’s just...”

“It’s ok Phil.” Dan consoles, reaching down between them and giving Phil’s hand a quick squeeze. “I know you must’ve worried when-“

“Yeah” Phil agrees, still frowning slightly. “I mean, it was all a bit chaotic when it happened, everyone was yelling, and then we all got outside and I realised you weren’t there and... I panicked, I guess. Marianne said she’d go find you, but I needed-“

“I’m sorry I scared the shit out of you. I am. I just slept right through it all until you tried to dislocate my shoulder...” Dan replies with a small smile.

“Yeah, yeah” Phil laughs back at him, the earlier tension obviously broken, normal service well and truly resumed. “You realise this means you’re not allowed to give me grief for sleeping through the doorbell at home, right?”

“Shut _uuuuup_!” Dan retorts, laughing loudly, before Phil shushes him, well aware that everyone is now looking in their direction confusedly.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh dear lord. This has been a nightmare to get posted. Not least because I lost over 4K of it right before leaving for the import for a family holiday on weds, and it’s basically been re-written since. So yes, there’lol be more coming, I’ll probably make this the first part of a series of II-related focus, but this is all I could get sorted in time for the fest. No ones more disappointed about that than I am, trust me.
> 
> I just hope this posts ok on shitty shitty hotel WiFi (yes, hello, apparently I am TATINOF-era D&P atm.
> 
> Thanks to winstonlives and realeyesrealize for support, beta-ing and defusing my tantrums over this. They’re fab!! ❤️
> 
> Hope you like it! I’m off to get back in the pool!


End file.
